Introduction
Business ethics has had varied definition but the general agreement states that it’s the general knowledge of what is considered wrong or right professionally in regards to services and the relationships with the stakeholders (Tsalikis & Peralta, 2018) . However, when moral dilemmas occur, there exists no clear set of rules on the way to achieve the best verdict and is usually of contentious matter. Reference to business ethics are particularly important especially during fundamental changes of times and circumstances which may result in permissible acts previously guaranteed to be outrageous now being partially permissive. This paper seeks to address the moral dilemma of Mrs. Pettit that challenges the ethics of her profession as a teacher.
The companies, firms and organization’s manage ethics in running of business by in most cases, establishing an ethics program or a set of office that determines what is ethical in the firm and what is not. The role of the ethics program is to portray the company professional ethics and values which most have them stipulated in codes and policies that shines the way to making decisions on the right conduct of ethics among the staff and management and two company’s programs are hardly similar (Tsalikis & Peralta, 2018) . The considerations followed by most companies involve a process of establishing if the conduct of the person was professional and relevant to the work, the extent of damage the conduct has on the company, the differing interests involved and the quantifiable justice as well as alternatives.
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Mrs. Pettit works in a school set up in an elementary school consisting of children with intellectual disabilities. Her work as a teacher is unquestionable neither did at one time the management receive a complaint regarding her incompetence as a teacher. For her private life, her and her husband engages in consensual sexual acts that to many seem outrageous and a police officer conducts a clandestine undercover investigation. This leads to her getting caught up in case judging her professional ability as a teacher. Her arrest raises the issue of ethics and conducts after being reinstated by the school and she faces the disciplinary board which determines her fate on her career.
The school has a disciplinary board that serves to solve the moral and ethics dilemmas that affect the school. The fact that one exists is enough to show that the school takes necessary measures to solve ethical dilemmas in the school more so since the school involves students with intellectual disabilities which ethics have a big impact on them. The due process of defining the dilemma is followed after the teacher is re-instated which in this case, the board is not biased neither did it pre judge the competence of Mrs., Pettit. She gets to work for two years then faces the disciplinary board which is in order.
The case scenario of Mrs. Pettit could be solved by the various ethical theories depending on which the board and the court deems fit which could be agreed to be disagreed. Utilitarian theories consist of deontology and consequentialism with normative moral ethics and conduct. In utilitarianism, the extent to which a conduct is right or wrong is determined by the repercussions of the act thus settling the circumstances and the dilemma of its performance. The right actions are seen to increase the best outcomes and in this case, Mrs. Pettit sexual conduct caught in public had direct impact to the image of the school thus minimizing the best outcome. If this approach is taken in deciding the outcome, then the teacher is culpable for her actions due to the public image.
The Kantian approach seeks to determine the uprightness of an act other than the consequential outcome. Unlike the consequential approach, this approach does not sacrifice one of its own for the greater good but rather does not entertain the banishment of the grounds that the person in question also has equal human rights and at no point can one violate them (Floros, 2011) . Both consequential and the deontology approach have their pros and cons and both cannot conform entirely to the expected outcome of ethics. Following the Kantian approach, the verdict that the board and the court had on Mrs., Pettit is unfair since it considered not only laying her off but also revoking her license diploma striping her of her practice and ability to ever teach again. The actions against the teacher were violating her rights as a human being that denied her the chance to ever practice again. This prompted Mrs. Pettit to appeal for justice regarding her firing and revoking of her diploma and practice.
There are various liberty laws, policies and regulations in business organizations that set the record straight on the due procedures that should be followed regarding promotion, hiring, firing, screening, and disciplinary and wage discrimination and have direct impact to the staff. For instance, in the process of hiring the procedure can impact on the outcome of the choice of people hired which could result on either equality or discriminatory actions against specific people. Similarly, the quest to decide on promotions in a company has equal impact as hiring since the temptations dealt with in this case are seniority, nepotism and inbreeding (Tsalikis & Peralta, 2018) .
The implication of the policies surrounding disciplinary action and discharge are vital. The importance of discipline in an organization is to ensure that the staff act accordingly to the company values and vision as well as staying productive. The discipline process should have a fine distinction between the staff and the company in ways that the employee should be given information privately rather than publicly (Velasquez, 2018) . The procedure taken on disciplinary action could aither be humiliating or corrective and discharge should be issued on a very just cause rather than speculation and personal feelings in essence, the firing should be relevant to the job description of the employee.
The implication relevant to Mrs. Pettit case study involves discipline and discharge at work. One of the general policies serving the ethical program of most companies is that the character, actions, and behavior of an employee beyond the company should not be relevant to the job they do. However, the behavior could have occasional impact on the company but the freedom of people should not be limited by the work they do (Velasquez, 2018) . Mrs. Pettit was in her middle age and had been practicing the sexual fantasies with her husband for the longest time. The circumstances under which she got incriminated were clandestine and uncalled for. Had she not been caught, she would have continued with her profession duly with no complaints. Her sexual orientation does not whatsoever affect her ability to deliver as a teacher at the school thus the school should have drawn a clear line between business and personal lives and has no right to meddle or control its staff beyond the school.
The stakeholders that included the school, the state board and the court sought to look for a narrow picture to convict Mrs. Pettit to a life of turmoil and shame. Based on the facts that she had served the elementary school for more than fifteen years, she had not at one point tried to inject her sexual ideas on the students as the school heads were purporting she would do, at least it was never reported. The second fact was that she always ha d positive reviews from the principal regarding her work as a teacher. The common opinion of the majority is misconstrued since there is no solid evidence depicting Mrs. Pettit to impact her sexual orientation to the intellectually disabled students she taught in the fifteen years she served as a teacher. The decision to revoke her diploma was unfair based on the deontological approach of ethics and the fact that companies should not control staff beyond their premises.
The issues surrounding business ethics are many and equally important for a functional business (DesJardins & McCall, 2014) . Each business should comprehend the extent to which ethical issues affect the normal running of a business and the relationship between the staff and the business as well as the broad public. The issues that affect business include segregation at work which should be prevented by emphasizing on anti-discrimination laws and policies (DesJardins & McCall, 2014) . For instance, violation of these laws may include the absence of handicap and disability access to a premise or the lack of handicap parking. Unsafe business conditions is also a major issue in business that requires proper measures to enhance the working environment of workers.
Another ethical issue in business is the aspect of whistleblowing or social media complaints. The social media and technology should not be used against an employee or the company unfairly (DesJardins & McCall, 2014) . In the case of Mrs. Pettit, a fellow school teacher blew the whistle that targeted Mrs. Pettit despite her and her husband putting on masquerades. This was betrayal on matters that did not concern the meddling teacher who should have found it fit to report to the school on matters relevant to the school.
Business ethics guide and provide the way for business interactions through set principles and policies (Velasquez, 2018) . Business ethics should not only include the art of mastering right and wrong but also the relevance of the right and wrong to the business and the outcome of such knowledge. Businesses should see it the fact that the conduct of individuals in their private life is their freedom and are entitled to the right of privacy without control beyond the business premises. Business ethics should be viewed from the perspective of both the wellbeing of the business and the employees to avoid bias.
References
DesJardins, J., & McCall, J. (2014). Contemporary issues in business ethics . Stamfort,CT]: Cengage Learning.
Floros, G. (2011). ‘Ethics-less’ Theories and ‘Ethical’ Practices. The Interpreter And Translator Trainer , 5 (1), 65-92. doi: 10.1080/13556509.2011.10798812
Tsalikis, J., & Peralta, A. (2018). Priming effects on business ethical decision making. Priming Effects On Business Ethical Decision Making , 01 (01). doi: 10.15556/ijsim.01.01.001
Velasquez, M. (2018). Business ethics . New York: Pearson.
